My wife and I have been married for almost 22 years. We started off like many newly married couples, I suppose. New jobs, new life together, shared dreams….etc.

Kids were always a part of those dreams and plans. Someday we’ll have kids…not right away…but someday.

Then “someday” kind of turned into more of a “maybe,” and that turned into a “maybe not.”

For whatever reason, my wife and I weren’t able to have kids “the usual way,” but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have kids.

So when it looked like we weren’t gonna have kids the usual way, we started looking into adoption. The first thing we found out was that adoption can be expensive.

It was expensive enough that it didn’t seem like a very feasible thing. Then a friend mentioned foster care and possible adoption.

We jumped at this. This was something we were very excited about. Helping kids in need and possibly giving them a forever home.

We didn’t go blindly into this. We read books on the subject. We talked to people who had done this. Everyone and everything said the same thing — it would be rewarding but very hard –but it was very much worth it.

We started out looking to foster and adopt a baby, but that fell through. We were then asked about fostering to adopt an 8-year-old girl who needed a home.

We were interested, so we asked for more information. I’ll never forget the day I got the packet with her picture. Here was this precious 8-year-old angel.

That was it for us! Sign us up!

We went and did a weekend visit with her first and then brought her home a week or so later. Our family grew from two to three. The whole adoption process took about seven months.

Then we got another call. Would we be interested in adopting her half-brother, who was by that time just turning 8? The brother was born with serious hearing impairments. He could hardly talk but knew some sign language.

We didn’t know any signs, except ones you might not want kids doing. We thought about it for a day, and we both felt that a brother and sister should be together. So the family grew from three to four.

In the span of less than a year, our family went from two to four, and we were now the parents of a 9-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy who we could hardly communicate with at first.

Were we overwhelmed? Yes! But was it worth it? Yes!

There have been many ups and downs since that crazy year. Hard times and good times. Laughs and tears.

But even on the worst of days, I never think that it was a mistake. I never think that these precious kids, who are now 18 and 17 now, aren’t mine. They are mine and always will be mine.

The family has grown more since that year. We were able to adopt a precious newborn girl right from birth through foster care. That adoption story took three years and eight months due to all sorts of circumstances, but it also has been so worth it.

She is now 6 years old and like her sister and brother, precious in so many ways.

The word adoption is defined as “the act of taking something on as your own.” We adopt things like opinions, ideas, habits. But, for us, it is usually used in reference to adopting kids.

Those kids, for my wife and myself, are our own…..and always will be.